Improving the sexual lives of older Australians: Perspectives from a qualitative study

Bianca Fileborn; Anthony Lyons; Sharron Hinchliff; Graham Brown; Wendy Heywood; Briony Dow; Sue Malta; Victor Minichiello

doi:10.1111/ajag.12405

Improving the sexual lives of older Australians: Perspectives from a qualitative study

Australas J Ageing. 2017 Dec;36(4):E36-E42. doi: 10.1111/ajag.12405. Epub 2017 Apr 3.

Authors

Bianca Fileborn^{1

2}, Anthony Lyons¹, Sharron Hinchliff³, Graham Brown¹, Wendy Heywood¹, Briony Dow⁴, Sue Malta^{4

5}, Victor Minichiello^{1

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
² School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
⁴ National Ageing Research Institute, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁵ Swinburne Institute of Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁶ School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
⁷ Faculty of Law, School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 28374505
DOI: 10.1111/ajag.12405

Abstract

Objective: To examine older Australian's perspectives on how their sexual lives can best be supported and/or improved.

Methods: Fifty-three, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Australian men (n = 30) and women (n = 23) aged 60 and over.

Results: Participants identified a range of key issues and areas where their sexual lives could be further supported or improved upon, including normalising the occurrence of sex and sexual desire in later life; increasing and improving on the quality of, cultural representations of older adults; introducing policy, educational and practice-based changes in age care facilities to support the consensual sexual expression of residents; and ensuring that sexual health campaigns and education are inclusive of older people.

Conclusion: Our findings present clear implications for further developing sexuality education and public health campaigns, training and education of health-care professionals, and generating social and cultural change pertaining to the acceptability of the diversity of sexual expression in later life.

Keywords: ageing; education; old age homes; sexual health; sexuality.

MeSH terms

Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging / psychology*
Australia
Cultural Characteristics
Female
Health Promotion
Homes for the Aged
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Male
Middle Aged
Public Opinion
Qualitative Research
Quality of Life*
Sexual Behavior*
Sexual Health